What Supernova Distance Would Trigger Mass Extinction? - PBS Spacetime

drjkl@programming.dev to Space@beehaw.org – 26 points –
What Supernova Distance Would Trigger Mass Extinction?
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The excellent PBS Spacetime - a physics and cosmology education channel - has released a new video detailing the effects and likelihood of supernovae in our stellar neighborhood.

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I can answer that: the Sun going supernova would most likely trigger a mass-extinction event on Earth. Time to start writing grant letters

What supernova distance

We have a lower bound of 1 AU then!

It is estimated that a Type II supernova closer than eight parsecs (26 light-years) would destroy more than half of the Earth's ozone layer. -Wikipedia

So we probably wouldn't want that to happen either, but I don't know if that would cause specifically an extinction event.

Also the star most likely to cause a near-earth event is IK Pegasi which is about 150 light years away.